Saturday, 25 August 2012

I finally have a commission! yay!
So i have been asked to create a dress for a renaissance fair based on the dress from the Disney Film Tangled

This is just a quick sketch to show my general idea, its basically the same, but with a more corsetted bodice and a slightly fuller skirt. At the minute i am planning on having the skirt ankle length, but i am waiting to hear back if she wants it to be full length. Please excuse the pretty crappy sketch, i couldnt find any of my water colours or anything.
v

I am going on holiday for a week tomorrow, so i will probably start the toile when i get back and then buy all the fabric and stuff.
I will post any progess :)
Rachael xxx

Monday, 20 August 2012

So i have been curling my hair this way since Christmas time and thought i would share with you, through pictures, how to do it. I try to avoid using heat on my hair as much as possible to preserve its condition, and this is the best way that i have found to produce long lasting curls that usually stay in until the end of the day.
I had just washed my hair earlier in the day, but it works just as well no matter how recently its been washed. Before you start, i would run a wet hairbrush through you hair just to dampen it ever so slightly, this helps the curls stay in and makes your hair a bit easier to work with.
Begin by taking a circular headband and placing it over you head, and over all your hair, not underneath like you normally would.

Then, take small sections of your hair, beginning at the front next to your ears and loop it over and under the headband. I find that the smaller the sections the tighter curls it makes.

Continue taking similar sized sections and working it around the headband further and further around your head. Repeat on both sides until you reach the back of you head.

If you like me and have quite a lot of hair, you will probably reach the back and still have quite a bit of hair, but that's okay just keep wrapping it around and around the final bit until all the hair is tucked into place

Now I don't know about you, but i think that with the right headband this hairstyle could look quite pretty for during the day as well, or even worn with a costume seen as it has a slightly old fashioned look.

Now you can sleep with your hair like this and it should all stay in place as long as its tucked in properly. A plus with this way of curling is that, unlike wearing foam curlers or rags in your hair overnight, this is extremely comfortable to sleep in.
Okay now, when you wake up and take it out it quite often looks slightly out of control and sticks out a bit where the headband was, like this...

But don't despair! This is where you could use a little bit of heat if you want, or just a hairbrush, hairspray or whatever hair styling products you prefer. Because of the headband flattening down my fringe i usually use straighteners on it to curve it up a bit and blend it into the curls better. I am not sure how this looks without a fringe, but i imagine a bit of brushing and styling using water or straighteners or whatever to calm it down a bit at the front will work just as well :)
Here are the final results of the overnight headband curling method

I hope that's helpful to anyone looking for a quick and easy way to curl hair without heat. I might be doing some more of these kind of tutorials for how to do things with your hair (braiding etc) especially for hairstyles that i like to do to wear with my costumes.
Rachael
xxx

About

A recent Graduate of Edinburgh College of Art with a degree in Costume Design, I am currently working as a freelance costume maker, aspiring to work in film and TV in the future.
If you are interested in a commission, email me and we can discuss the possibilities...
Visit my Website
www.RachaelFraser.com
for my portfolio of past work and my CV